


Pavlov's Bell

by amaradangeli



Series: Live & In Color [4]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-17
Updated: 2006-09-17
Packaged: 2019-02-05 03:34:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12786069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaradangeli/pseuds/amaradangeli
Summary: "Oh, this should be all kinds of fun."





	Pavlov's Bell

The knock on my door seems ominous because I know it's her. I open it anyway, glass of scotch in my hand. "Thanks for coming." She doesn't bother to smile, just hands me her coat and steps past me.

"Well, we need to talk, right?" She spies another glass of scotch on the coffee table – this one on ice, now slightly watered down – the way she likes it. She picks it up and knocks it back as she circumnavigates the low table to sit on the couch.

I can't help but smirk at her a little for that and she merely shrugs at me in response. "Yeah, we do need to talk." I sit down on the opposite end of the couch knowing that a little space between us is a good thing. It's highly possible that at some point during this conversation she's going to want to slap me. "Would you like another drink?"

"Yes, please." I pour her another two fingers and she swirls it around in her glass to chill it. This drink isn't so watered down but she downs with just as much finesse as she did the first. This time she just picks up the bottle to refill her own. Oh, this should be all kinds of fun.

I decide to jump in feet first. At this point, what do we have to lose? "So what exactly do you want out of this?"

"Beg pardon?" She asks, coughing slightly.

"What would you want out of me, Donna? Are you looking for a relationship or just sex?"

Now she does cough. Then takes a long pull off her third drink. "Can we back this up a little?"

"We both know why were here tonight. It's gotten harder and harder to work around the sexual tension. We've only got so many options. I thought we were both ready to discuss the possibilities of being together."

"Are you ready to discuss the possibility of being together? I mean really ready?" She looks as me as if I don't know what I'm getting into.

"Yeah, I am. It's no small secret that we're attracted to each other."

"But we're both aware of the risks." She studies the dark liquid in her glass and clinks the ice cubes a few times. "And we both know how terribly wrong something like this could go."

"We're so close to terribly wrong already, Donna. We're a couple of cross comments away from telling each other to fuck off and running. But we might be able to make it work."

"We could definitely make it work." She smiles at me. "At least for a little while. You know, and then we'll tell each other to fuck off and run." Her laughter, though melodious, is humorless.

"Do you think it's going to come to that?"

"Don't you?"

"I guess so." I'm resigned to it, but I was always taught that honesty is the best policy. Especially when lies can cost so damn much. "But in the mean time?"

"Do you want the mean time? Is that enough?"

"That depends on what you want."

"I want you." It sounds simple when she says it like that. It's not that simple. And it's not something we talk about. Hell, everything we've said tonight are things we don't talk about. We're not supposed to and we can't. But here we sit, discussing it calmly as if it's not one of the most important decisions either of us has made.

"I want you too. All of you. More than anything I want to make us work." I hate how desperate I sound, but she's become part of me. The real part of me.

"So now what?"

"So now we don't talk about it anymore." It's important to me that she know that this is something that we can't and won't talk about. "This is something we just do."

"Just something we do." She repeats this a little stupidly.

"Just something we do." I smile at her a little. "The feelings are just Pavlov's bell anyway."

**Author's Note:**

> Pavlov's Bell – Aimee Mann
> 
> Oh Mario, sit here by the window  
> Stay here till we reach Idaho  
> And when we go, hold my hand on take off  
> Tell me what I already know  
> That we can't talk about it  
> No, we can't talk about it
> 
> Because nobody knows that's how I nearly fell  
> Trading clothes and ringing Pavlov's bell  
> History shows there's not a chance in hell
> 
> But, oh, Mario, we're only to Ohio  
> It's kind of getting harder to breathe  
> I won't let it show, I'm all about denial  
> But can't deny all that need belief  
> That we could talk about it  
> But we can't talk about it
> 
> Because nobody knows that's how I nearly fell  
> Trading clothes and ringing Pavlov's bell  
> History shows, but rarely shows it well  
> Well well well
> 
> Oh Mario, why if this is nothing  
> I'm finding it so hard to dismiss  
> If you're what I need then only you can save me  
> So come on baby give me the fix  
> And let's just talk about it  
> I've got to talk about it
> 
> Because nobody knows that's how I nearly fell  
> Trading clothes and ringing Pavlov's bell  
> History shows, like it will show and tell  
> So tell me
> 
> That's how I nearly fell  
> By ringing Pavlov's bell  
> So baby show and tell
> 
> Oh Mario, Mario


End file.
